Should patent litigants be able to appeal an infringement liability ruling before a damages trial? Before willfulness is decided? Those are the questions the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit wants to consider in a case about windshield wiper blades.
On Aug. 7, in Robert Bosch LLC v. Pylon Manufacturing Corp., the court on its own initiative ordered en banc briefing and arguments on the two questions. Specifically, the court asked the parties to address whether a federal statute governing the Federal Circuit’s jurisdiction allows it to hear infringement liability appeals (1) “when a trial on damages has not yet occurred” and (2) “when willfulness issues are outstanding and remain undecided.”
